Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press
under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the
data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Statement of
John M. Galvin
Acting Commissioner
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Friday, January 4, 2013
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 155,000 in December,
and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.8 percent. In 2012,
job gains averaged 153,000 per month, the same as in 2011. In
December, employment rose in health care, food services and
drinking places, construction, and manufacturing.
Health care employment increased by 45,000 over the month,
with gains in ambulatory health care services (+23,000), in
hospitals (+12,000), and in nursing and residential care
facilities (+10,000). Health care added 338,000 jobs over the
past 12 months.
Employment in food services and drinking places rose by
38,000 in December. In 2012, the industry added an average of
24,000 jobs per month, essentially the same as in 2011.
Construction employment rose by 30,000 in December, with
gains in construction of buildings (+13,000) and in residential
specialty trade contractors (+12,000).
In December, manufacturing employment grew by 25,000, with
small gains in a number of component industries. In 2012,
manufacturing added 180,000 jobs; most of the growth occurred
during the first quarter of the year.
Within retail trade, employment in clothing and accessories
stores fell by 19,000 in December, following gains that totaled
55,000 over the prior 3 months. In December, employment
continued to trend up in automobile dealers and in food and
beverage stores.
Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls rose by 7 cents in December to $23.73. Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1 percent. From
November 2011 to November 2012, the Consumer Price Index for All
Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.8 percent.
Most major indicators from the survey of households showed
little or no change in December. The unemployment rate held at
7.8 percent; the rate has been at or near that level since
September. In December, the number of unemployed persons was
little changed at 12.2 million. Among the unemployed, 39.1
percent had been jobless for 27 weeks or more. The employment-
population ratio, at 58.6 percent, also was essentially unchanged
over the month, and the labor force participation rate held at
63.6 percent.
Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work
in December, 2.6 million were classified as marginally attached
to the labor force, about unchanged from a year earlier. These
individuals wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked
for a job within the last 12 months. The number of discouraged
workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no
jobs were available for them, was little changed in December from
a year earlier at 1.1 million.
Data users are reminded that seasonal adjustment factors for
the household survey are updated each year with the release of
the December data. Seasonally adjusted estimates going back 5
years--to January 2008--were subject to revision.
In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 155,000 in
December, and the unemployment rate held at 7.8 percent.